Special Sessions of the General Assembly
devoted to
Disarmament

The General Assembly has held three Special Sessions devoted to Disarmament (SSOD). There was SSOD-I in 1978, SSOD-II in 1982 and SSOD-III in 1988 (see links below). Only SSOD-I succeeded in producing a final document.

Since 1995, the General Assembly has been calling for a fourth session on disarmament. It then established a Working Group in 2003 to discuss the agenda and the possibility of establishing a preparatory committee for a fourth special session of the General Assembly devoted to disarmament (SSOD-IV).

By resolution A/61/60, in 2007 the General Assembly established an Open-Ended Working Group on SSOD-IV to consider the objectives and agenda, including the possible establishment of the preparatory committee, for an SSOD-IV.

The Open-Ended Working Group met from 25 to 29 June 2007, from 30 July to 3 August 2007 and from 27 to 31 August 2007 under the Chairmanship of Ambassador Alfredo Labbé of Chile.

The bronze sculpture "Let Us Beat Our Swords into Ploughshares," was created by Soviet artist Evgeny Vuchetich, and presented to the United Nations on 4 December 1959 by the Government of the USSR. It is located in the North Garden of the United Nations Headquarters.
Credit: UN Photo/Andrea Brizzi

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